Workers For Jesus Online Bible Study Table of Contents

About this Bible Study........The King James Version of the Bible is written in a beautiful form of the English language. It can be hard for modern English readers to understand.  In this study, you will find notes and summaries in brown just above the the verses from the Bible. We recommend that you read the notes and summaries first, and then read the verses in their KJV form. 


The Books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings

The books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings were originally one book. They were probably separated into 2 books so they would be easier to copy by hand.

1 Kings and 2 Kings were written 561 - 538 years before Jesus Christ was born. They cover David's death, David's son, Solomon, and his time as king, the kings after Solomon, and the other groups of people who came and carried the Israelites away to other countries.

The books were written for 2 reasons:
1. To review the history for the exiles (the Israelites who lived in other countries).
2. To show the exiles why they were carried away.
 


Bible Timeline
 
Here is a good timeline to see the book of 2 Kings in the history of the Bible
http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/timeline.htm


 


2 Kings 23 - 25

Josiah gets rid of false god worship in Judah.
The king of Babylon attacks Judah and destroys the temple.
The king of Babylon carries away the people of Judah.

 

2 Kings 23

Josiah gets rid of the false god worship in Judah.
 

The Book of Law was the book of rules that God gave to Moses back in the book of Deuteronomy.

King Josiah brought all of the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. They all went with him to God's Temple. The priests, prophets, and all of the people went, too. Josiah read the Book of Law to them.
[1] And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
[2] And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.


Josiah stood by a big pole and made a promise to God.  He promised that the people in Judah would follow God and obey His laws. They would all follow him with all of their hearts and souls. The people all agreed with Josiah and promised to obey God's laws.
[3] And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.


Josiah told Hilkiah (the leader of the priests), the other priests, and the Temple guards to take things out of the Temple. He told them to take out everything that was used to worship false gods.  They cut down the grove of trees and burned them outside the city walls in the area named Kidron.  Then they carried the ashes to the area named Bethel.
[4] And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
 

Josiah put out the priests who worshiped false gods. The evil king, Manasseh, made these men priests. They burned incense to the false god named Baal in the cities of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem.  They also burned incense to worship the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
[5] And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.


Josiah took the grove of trees out of God's Temple. He took them out of Jerusalem to the creek named Kidron. He burned the trees there and stamped the ashes into powder. Then he threw the powder on children's graves.
[6] And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.


Josiah tore down the houses near the temple where the male prostitutes lived. He tore down the places where women weaved items to worship false gods with..
[7] And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.


Josiah went through all of Judah, from the area of Geba to the area of Beersheba. Josiah took out the priests who worshiped false gods. He destroyed the altars where they burned incense. He broke down the places of false god worship by the gates. He broke down the worship place by the gate of Joshua (the governor of Jerusalem). Joshua's false god worship place was on the left-hand side of the gate.
[8] And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.


The priests from the false god worship places did not come to God's altar in Jerusalem. But they stayed with their people and ate bread without yeast in it.
[9] Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.


Josiah destroyed the altar in Topheth (near the place where the descendants of Hinnom lived). He destroyed the altar so that no one could sacrifice their children to the false god named Molech.
[10] And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.


King Josiah took away the horses that other kings used to worship the sun. They were kept by the door into God's Temple near the room of Nathan-melech.  Josiah burned the chariots.
[11] And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.


In the past, Kings Ahaz and Manasseh had made altars to worship false gods in their homes. Josiah destroyed these altars and turned them into dust. He threw the dust into the creek named Kidron.
[12] And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.


When Solomon was the king, he sinned and built places to worship false gods near Jerusalem. He built worship places for Ashtoreth (the false god of the Zidonians), Chemosh (the false god of the Moabites), and Milcom (the false god of the Ammonites).  King Josiah tore down these places.
[13] And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.


He broke up the statues and cut down the groves of trees. He used the places to bury dead people.
[14] And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

 


Back in 1 Kings 12, Jeroboam sinned against God. He built altars and picked priests to make sacrifices on them. But the priests were not from the tribe of Levi. God's law said that only men from the tribe of Levi could be priests.


From 1 Kings 13

Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. A prophet came from Judah. God told the prophet to travel there to see Jeroboam.
[1] And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

The prophet talked to the altar. He told the altar that someday a baby named Josiah will be born in David's family. Josiah will grow up. Then he will burn bones on the altar. The bones will be from the priests who make sacrifices on the altar.
[2] And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

 


 

About 350 years ago, when Jeroboam (his father was Nebat) was the king, he sinned and built an altar to worship false gods. He caused the people in Israel to sin. Now, Josiah destroyed Jeroboam's altar and another altar at Bethel. He tore them down, burned them, and crushed them into powder. Then he burned the grove of trees.
[15] Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.


Josiah noticed places in the mountain where people were buried. These were the priests who worshiped false gods on the altar.  Josiah brought the bones out of the mountain. He burned them on the altar.
About 350 years ago, this is what God said would happen.  God told the prophet, and the prophet told the people.

[16] And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.


Josiah saw another grave that had a special mark on it. He asked who it was. The men in the city told him it was the grave of the prophet who traveled from Judah. He was the one who told Jeroboam that Josiah would someday destroy the altar.
[17] Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.


Josiah told them to leave his grave alone. They should not take out his bones.  So the men did not move the prophet's bones.
[18] And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.


Josiah traveled through the area named Samaria. He saw the places that the evil kings of Israel built for worshiping false gods. These kings made God very angry. Josiah destroyed these places, too. He destroyed them the same as he destroyed the bad places in Bethel.
[19] And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.


Josiah killed all of the priests who worshiped false gods. He burned their bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
[20] And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.


Josiah gave the people a command. He told them to celebrate the Passover to worship the Lord God. The Book of Law says they should celebrate Passover.
[21] And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.


Passover had not been celebrated for hundreds of years. It had not been celebrated since the days that the judges and kings ruled Israel and Judah.
[22] Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;


When Josiah was king for 18 years, the people in Jerusalem celebrated Passover.
[23] But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.


Josiah put out all of the people who were involved with worshiping false gods. He put out the people who talked to dead people, fortune tellers, and wizards. He got rid of all statues and idols. He did all of this because the Book of Law (the book that Hilkiah the priest found in God's Temple) said these people were evil. Josiah obeyed God's laws.
[24] Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.


There was no king like Josiah. Josiah loved God with all of his heart and soul and strength. He obeyed God's laws. No king that lived after Josiah was as good as he was.
[25] And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.


Even though Josiah was a good king, God was still angry with the people in Judah. He was still angry because of the evil things King Manasseh did.
[26] Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.


God said that He would put Judah out the same as he put Israel out.  He will get rid of His city, Jerusalem.
[27] And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

 



The death of Josiah



The book about the kings of Judah tells about the other things Josiah did.

[28] Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?


When Josiah was king of Judah, the king of Egypt was traveling through Judah to fight the king of Assyria. The king of Egypt's name was Pharaoh-nechoh. Josiah and his army wanted to stop him. They fought with him at the place named Megiddo.  Pharaoh-nechoh saw Josiah and killed him. 
[29] In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.


Josiah's workers put Josiah's body in a chariot. They brought him back to Jerusalem. They buried him in his own sepulchre (burial place in rock). The people in Judah then anointed (put oil on his head to make him holy) Josiah's son, Jehoahaz. They made him the new king.
[30] And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

 



The kings of divided Israel
(dates are not exact)
 
King of Israel
(northern part)
King of Judah
(southern part)
Year started King's name Year started King's name

922 B.C.  

Jeroboam

922 B.C.

Rehoboam
       
   

915 B.C.

Abijam

 

 

913 B.C.

Asa

900 B.C.

Nadab    

897 B.C.

Baasha    

887 B.C.

Elah    

886 B.C.

Zimri    

882 B.C.

Omri    

870 B.C.

Ahab    

 

 

872 B.C.

Jehoshaphat

855 B.C.

Ahaziah    
The next 2 kings are both named Jehoram,
but they are not the same person. The exact dates of when they began to be kings are not known.
   

849 B.C

Jehoshaphat and Jehoram (Also called Joram)

847 B.C

Jehoram
(Also called Joram)

.

 
    835 B.C. Ahaziah

842-813 B.C.

Jehu 834 B.C. Athaliah (queen)
    833 B.C. Joash (not the same person as the king of Israel)
813 B.C. Jehoahaz    
796 B.C. Joash (not the same person as the king of Judah)    
    794 B.C. Amaziah
779 B.C. Jeroboam    
    752 B.C. Azariah
714 B.C. Zachariah    
  Shallum    
715 B.C. Menahem    
702 B.C. Pekahiah    
700 B.C. Pekah    
    658 B.C. Jotham
       
    684 B.C. Ahaz
672 B.C. Hoshea    
663 B.C.
Israelites taken to
Assyria
669 B.C. Hezekiah
699 B.C Manasseh
642 B.C. Amon
640 B.C. Josiah
609 B.C. Jehoahaz
598 B.C. (Eliakim) Jehoikim

 

King Jehoahaz dies in prison in Egypt.

 

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He was king for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal (her father was Jeremiah from the place named Libnah).
[31] Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


Jehoahaz did bad things in God's eyes the same as his ancestors.
[32] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.


Pharaoh-nechoh put Jehoahaz in prison in the place named Riblah (in the area of Hamath). Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Then, Pharaoh-nechoh made Judah pay taxes to him.  They had to pay 100 talents (about 4 tons) of silver and a talent (about 75 pounds) of gold.
[33] And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.


Pharaoh-nechoh made Jehoahaz's brother, Eliakim, the new king. He changed his name to Jehoikim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt. Jehoahaz died in Egypt.
[34] And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
 



King Jehoiakim pays taxes to Egypt.


Jehoiakim made the people in Judah pay taxes.  Then he paid silver and gold to Pharaoh.
[35] And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh.


Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to be king. He was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. Jehoiakim's mother's name was Zebudah (she was the daughter of Pedaiah from the area of Rumah).
[36] Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.


Jehoiakim did bad things in God's eyes. He did bad things like his ancestors did.
[37] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.


2 Kings 24

The king of Babylon attacks Judah, destroys the temple, and carries away the people.

The king of Babylon was named Nebuchadnezzar. He attacked Judah and made Jehoiakim work for him. After 3 years, Jehoiakim rebelled (did not want to work for him anymore).
[1] In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
 

Babylon was a city-state in the area named Mesopotamia. It was in the country that we now call Iraq. A city-state means it was a large city that was not part of any other country.

The Chaldeans were the people who controlled Babylon.
 

Map by MapMaster from Wikipedia.com

God sent groups of people to attack Judah. He sent the people named the Chaldees, the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites. They attacked Judah to destroy it.  This is what God told the prophets He would do.
[2] And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.


God was sending the people to destroy Judah. He wanted Judah out of His sight. He was punishing them because Judah's past king, Manasseh, sinned and killed innocent people. God would not forgive what Manasseh did.

[3] Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;
[4] And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.


The book about the kings of Judah tells more about the things Jehoiakim did.  Then Jehoiakim died and his son, Jehoiachin, became the new king.
[5] Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
[6] So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

 


Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took all of Egypt's land from the Nile to the Euphrates River.  After that, the king of Egypt did not attack Judah again.

[7] And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

 


The kings of divided Israel
(dates are not exact)
 
King of Israel
(northern part)
King of Judah
(southern part)
Year started King's name Year started King's name

922 B.C.  

Jeroboam

922 B.C.

Rehoboam
       
   

915 B.C.

Abijam

 

 

913 B.C.

Asa

900 B.C.

Nadab    

897 B.C.

Baasha    

887 B.C.

Elah    

886 B.C.

Zimri    

882 B.C.

Omri    

870 B.C.

Ahab    

 

 

872 B.C.

Jehoshaphat

855 B.C.

Ahaziah    
The next 2 kings are both named Jehoram,
but they are not the same person. The exact dates of when they began to be kings are not known.
   

849 B.C

Jehoshaphat and Jehoram (Also called Joram)

847 B.C

Jehoram
(Also called Joram)

.

 
    835 B.C. Ahaziah

842-813 B.C.

Jehu 834 B.C. Athaliah (queen)
    833 B.C. Joash (not the same person as the king of Israel)
813 B.C. Jehoahaz    
796 B.C. Joash (not the same person as the king of Judah)    
    794 B.C. Amaziah
779 B.C. Jeroboam    
    752 B.C. Azariah
714 B.C. Zachariah    
  Shallum    
715 B.C. Menahem    
702 B.C. Pekahiah    
700 B.C. Pekah    
    658 B.C. Jotham
       
    684 B.C. Ahaz
672 B.C. Hoshea    
663 B.C.
Israelites taken to
Assyria
669 B.C. Hezekiah
699 B.C Manasseh
642 B.C. Amon
640 B.C. Josiah
609 B.C. Jehoahaz
609 B.C. (Eliakim) Jehoikim
598 B.C. Jehoiachin
598 B.C. (Mattaniah) Zedekiah

Jehoiachin was 18 when he became king of Judah. He was king in Jerusalem for 3 months. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.
[8] Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.


Jehoiachin did evil things in God's eyes. He did bad things the same as his father.
[9] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.


Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers attacked Jerusalem. Then Nebuchadnezzar came and attacked it, too.
[10] At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
[11] And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.


Nebuchadnezzar captured Jehoiachin, his family, and his leaders. This was the 8th year that Nebuchadnezzar was king.
[12] And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

Nebuchadnezzar took all of the valuable items from God's Temple and the king's house. He cut up all of the gold items that Solomon made for the Temple.
[13] And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.


Nebuchadnezzar carried away most of the people in Jerusalem. He carried away the soldiers and 10,000 other people. He took the men who were skilled in making things.  The only people left in Jerusalem were very poor people.
[14] And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

Nebuchadnezzar carried them away to Babylon. He took Jehoiachin, Jehoiachin's mother, Jehoiachin's wives, the army leaders, and the important people of Judah.
[15] And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.

He took 7,000 soldiers and 1,000 craftsmen. He took men that were strong and could fight in wars.
[16] And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.


Then Nebuchadnezzar made a new king in Judah.  He made Jehoiachin's uncle the new king. His uncle's name was Mattaniah, but Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Zedekiah.
[17] And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
 

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became the new king. He was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. Zedekiah's mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah from the area of Libnah.
[18] Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


Zedekiah did bad things in God's eyes. He did the same kind of bad things that Jehoiakim had done. 
[19] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
 

God was very angry with the people in Judah and Jerusalem. That is why He put them out.  Zedekiah rebelled and would not obey the Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
[20] For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
 


2 Kings 25



When Zedikiah was king of Judah for 9 years, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem. This was on the 10th day of the 10th month. He and his army camped next to it and made forts around it.
[1] And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.


This continued into Zedekiah's 11th year as king. The people in Jerusalem ran out of food. On the 9th day of the 4th month, the soldiers from Babylon got into Jerusalem. Zedekiah and soldiers tried to escape at night. They went out the gate by the king's garden. Soldiers from Babylon were camped around the city. They king escaped and went toward the flat land. 
[2] And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
[3] And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
[4] And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.


The Babylon soldiers chased Zedekiah. They caught him near the city of Jericho. Zedekiah's soldiers were separated from him. The Babylon soldiers took Zedekiah to Babylon's king, Nebuchadnezzer,  in the place named Riblah. They had a trial and said he was guilty.
[5] And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
[6] So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.


They killed Zedekiah's sons and made him watch. Then they poked out his eyes. They put him in brass chains and took him to Babylon.
[7] And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
 

Nebuchadnezzar had been king of Babylon for 19 years.  The leader of Babylon's army was named Nebuzaradan. In the fifth month on the 7th day, Nebuzaradan went to Jerusalem. 
[8] And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:


He burned the temple and the king's house. He burned all of the houses in Jerusalem and all the houses of Jerusalem's leaders.
[9] And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.


The soldiers with Nebuzaradan broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
[10] And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
 

Nebuzaradan and his army took most of the people in Jerusalem away to Babylon. They left some of the poor people there to work on the farms.
[11] Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carry away.
[12] But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.
 

The pillars were on each side of the door.
They were named Boaz and Jachin.

Model of Solomon's Temple
by Dr. Albert S. Maurer and Jonathan R. Caforio.
SolomonsTemple.com

A laver sitting on a base.

From the book, "Solomon's Temple"  by By Timothy Otis Paine
Published by Phinney, 1861
Digitized and published on
Google.com

From Wikipedia

The soldiers from Babylon continued to destroy things in Jerusalem.  They took down the brass pillars in front of the temple. They took down the brass bowls and the big brass sea. They broke them into pieces and carried them off to Babylon.
[13] And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.


They also took the brass, gold, and silver items in the Temple. They took pots, shovels, snuffers (to put out candles), spoons, firepans, and bowls.
[14] And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
[15] And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.


They took the pillars, large bowls, and bases. It was impossible to weigh the brass in all of these items. Each pillar was 27 feet tall. The tops of them were brass and were almost 5 feet tall. The wreaths and pomegranates on the tops were also brass.
[16] The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
[17] The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.
 

Judah is led away to live in Babylon.
From "Treasures of the Bible"
From the web site: 
La Vista Church of Christ


The leaders of the Babylon soldiers took the priests, Seriah (the head priest) and Zephaniah (the assistant priest). They also took the 3 guards of the temple doors.
[18] And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
 

They also took an army leader and 5 men who helped the king. They took the army's scribe who was in charge of calling the army together. They took 60 other people whom they found in Jerusalem.
[19] And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:


The leader of the army, Nebuzaradan, took them to the king of Babylon in the place named Riblah in the area of Hamath. The king killed them all there.  Judah was carried away.
[20] And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:
[21] And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
 

There were a few people left in Judah.  Nebuchadnezzar put Gedaliah (his father's name was Ahikam and his grandfather's name was Shaphan) in charge of them.
[22] And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.
 

The army and the army leaders heard that Gedaliah was now in charge of Judah.  Some of them met with Gedaliah in the place named Mizpah. They were Ishmael (his father was Nethahiah), Johanan (his father was Careah), Seraiah (his father was Tanhumeth the Netophathite), Jaazaniah (his father was a Maachathite), and the men in their armies.
[23] And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethahiah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.


Gedaliah made a promise to the men. He told them not to be afraid of the people in Babylon. He told them they should live in Babylon's land and work for Babylon's king. He told them everything would be good for them.
[24] And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.


Ishmael (his father's name was Nethaniah and his grandfather's name was Elishama) was from the royal family. In the 7th month, Ishmael and 10 men came to Mizpah. They killed Gedaliah and the Jews and Babylonians that were with him.

[25] But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.


Then all of the people in that area escaped to Egypt because they were afraid of the Babylonians.
[26] And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.

 



Judah's king, Jehoiachin, gets out of prison.


Judah's king, Jehoiachin, had been a prisoner for 37 years.  On the 27th day of the 12th month, the king of Babylon took Jehoiachin out of prison.  The king's name was Evil-merodach.

[27] And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;


Evil-merodach talked kindly (nice) to Jehoiachin. He treated him well and gave him new clothes.  Jehoiachin ate with Evil-merodach for the rest of his life. Jehoichin was treated with more respect than the other kings who were prisoners in Babylon. Evil-merodach gave Jehoiachin some money every day.
[28] And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
[29] And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.
[30] And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.
 

 

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